Patriot Act Expansion Passes SECRET Senate Committee

Patriot Act Expansion Passes Senate Committee

In an end run around the Fourth Amendment, and putting our civil liberties under siege, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence met in secret today and approved expansions to the Patriot Act that will allow the Government to obtain records without a court order or grand jury subpoena - and more.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-06-07-congress-patriot-act_x.htm

The ACLU sent out this press release earlier today, objecting to both the secret hearing and the expanded powers.
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18423&c=206

"Americans have a reasonable expectation that
their federal government will not gather
records about their health, their wealth and
the transactions of their daily life without
probable cause of a crime and without a court
order," Graves added. "We can give law
enforcement the tools they need to protect us
without sidestepping our Constitution�s
fundamental checks and balances."

The bill would give the FBI "administrative
subpoena" authority, permitting the bureau to
write and approve its own search orders for any
tangible thing held by a third party deemed
relevant to an intelligence investigation,
without prior judicial approval. This
unilateral power would let agents seize
personal records from medical facilities,
libraries, hotels, gun dealers, banks and any
other businesses without any specific facts
connecting those records to any criminal
activity or a foreign agent. This would
drastically undermine the Fourth Amendment�s
protections against unreasonable searches and
seizures.

The proposal would also remove one of the few
safeguards in place for intelligence
investigations. Currently, business records of
an American cannot be demanded "solely upon the
basis of activities protected by the first
amendment to the Constitution." The proposed
legislation would delete this restriction and
allow records to be sought based on
constitutionally protected activity as long as
the investigation as a whole is not based
solely on constitutionally protected activity.

Proponents of that power claim that this would
give the FBI the same power used by government
agencies administering federal programs, like
Medicare. But these agencies do not have at
their disposal, as does the FBI, other tools
like grand jury subpoenas or Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act search orders.
The ACLU noted that Congress has continuously
denied this power, long sought for by the FBI,
for good reasons. Senator Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA), a member of the Intelligence and
Judiciary Committees, expressed concerns that
this expanded power would give the FBI "carte
blanche" to go on "fishing expeditions" without
checks against abuse.

The new powers also allow the FBI to snoop into your mail:

The proposal would also give the FBI broad new
powers to track people�s mail in intelligence
inquiries. It would force postal workers to
disclose the name, address and other
information appearing on envelopes delivered to
or from people designated by the FBI, without
any meaningful protections or oversight. That
drastic proposal has drawn criticism from
within the service itself, including its chief
privacy officer.

This is an abuse of power. The Patriot Act was passed in haste, without adequate time for reflection or review. It has nabbed a few bumbling holy warriors but no real terrorists. It has not made us safer, only less free.

Update: New press release from ACLU:

"Today's secret vote was a failure for the
Fourth Amendment, the American people, and the
very freedoms we hold dear. At a time when
Americans from all walks of life are calling
for the Patriot Act to be brought in line with
the Constitution, the Senate Intelligence
Committee went ahead with an unwarranted
expansion of the Patriot Act's already
intrusive powers."

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011024.html
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... The FBI's other option is to seek an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court under the infamous Section 215 of the Patriot Act. ...
SUBJECT: THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE USA PATRIOT ACT
MORE:

US Senate Committee on Intelligence
Responsible for overseeing federal intelligence activities. Those activities are
intended to promote the security and vital interests of the nation, ...
http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/

Senate Intelligence Committee approves new FBI powers in Patriot ... - USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-06-07-congress-patriot-act_x.htm

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